The Motorcycle Helmet Act of 2009 provides that all riders including back riders are obliged to wear ICC and PS-marked helmets. Violators will be penalized with P1,500 for the first offense, P3,000 for the second offense, P5,000 for the third and P10,000 in addition to the confiscation of the driver’s license for the fourth and succeeding offense.

I agree with implementing standards on helmets for protection. However, many are complaining that they’ve just learned about this law recently. I do believe that the government has issued an information drive to disseminate the information, but reality bites and it seems many riders are still unaware about this until it was shown on TV that there was a long line of riders who wanted to register their helmets.

Also, many are shouting in the streets saying “The corruption in the Philippines is again taking effect!”, because of the facts that all those with cheap helmets will spend up to Php 3k again to buy the more appropriate, safety-approved helmets, register and pay for those damn stickers, a percentage of these goes to the VAT and subjected to possible corruption, this could also just give police and traffic enforcers more excuses to stop and harass riders during checkpoints and questionable traffic violations. They can stop you, collect money and then let you go… only to be caught again by the next cop!

Good thing that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) had already made a memorandum agreement with the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) for the postponement of its implementation. Instead of Aug.01, 2011, it is now move to January 01, 2013! So, no apprehension muna, until Jan. 01, 2013. Pero sana, wag na natin ulit hintayin na malapit na deadline before tayo kumuha ng sticker, or else, same old problem ulit.

The said Act should have also considered helmets from abroad with the ISO mark or sticker. It is ironic because DTI says ” kahit mumurahin basta nasa listahan”. I think the RA should be revisited considering that almost all, if not all, imported helmets are within standards made of durable material like fiberglass which could adequately protect the skull, unlike the cheap kinds which would in fact, cause skull injury because they would easily chip or break.

What motorcycle riders also don’t understand is how all these “imported” helmets came into the Philippine market yet they do not have the ICC stickers in the first place. The burden is now put on the consumer’s shoulders. It’s always Juan dela Cruz who’ll need to suffer for the government’s short comings.

Sadly, it’s the ministerial duty of DTI to issue the sticker if it is not obvious that it’s fake and complied with the safety conditions of helmet. The officers will mainly rely on the information you provided with your application form and the condition of the helmet (may checklist doon sa form).

However, a sort of WARNING, you can be penalized for PERJURY if you will provide wrong information in your application form. Remember that before you can have that sticker, you will fill out the application form stating among others the brand and source of your helmet and certify that all information therein are correct by affixing your name and signature.

Director Aguilos has also warned that LTO-deputized enforcers of traffic laws, when making arrests for violation of the prescribed use of helmets, must not invoke RA 10054. Instead, they must be invoking RA 4136 and DOTC Order No. 2008-039.

Requiring riders to wear helmets was really a good idea and that should have been the gist of this law. But it seems the implementers are more interested in earning from this ICC and PS stickers. They could just discard this ICC and PS stickers idea and just require riders to wear helmets of the approved brands and apprehend those who are either not wearing any helmet at all or who are wearing damaged helmets or helmets without straps. Just make sure that the shops or stores should sell helmets that passed DTI and LTO’s standards. We don’t need to burden our citizens with additional expenses, and subject them to the tedious effort of falling in queues, and like I said earlier, the sticker requirement could also just tempt police and traffic enforcers to take advantage of uneducated riders.